Taking place during late August of 2024, the inaugural Sky Meadow Mystery School was a free, week-long, residential immersion into wholesome permaculture practice and the mythopoetic mysteries of Life and Death.
As an experiment in countercultural community-building, the Mystery School was also a time and place to learn new skills and perspectives. One of our guiding themes was soulfulness, as distinct from the loaded term “spirituality”; the notion and practice of Deep Play, taking symbolic ritual, storytelling, art and poetry seriously, if not literally.
The essential teaching is very simple – that we are all mortal and that therefore it makes sense to live as well and enjoyably and interestingly and meaningfully as we can, while we can. To live so as to be well-remembered after we’re dust.
This theme is considered to be necessary (and useful, and fun) because it runs counter to the prevailing, mainstream cultural narratives of the revealed religions and also to the mainstream of secular culture (a vacuum into which has rushed soulless corporate consumerism).
Towards preserving certain mystiques, rather than a detailed day-by-day account, here follows an impressionistic memoir of magical moments during the Mystery School.
Photos by Tony Wolf, Kathrynne Wolf and Katie Benn.
Sky Meadow is a place of deep magic, never more so than during golden hour.
Entering the Hearth building – circular, earthen-floored, open to the sky – lighting candles and incense upon the Duende shrine. This is a shrine not to an individual, nor to a deity, but rather to the idea of life as the Art of Being Well-Remembered.
Getting briefly lost near the mountain town of Hardwick and stumbling across this stone circle on a wooded property. Seen from the roadside; I have no idea of the whys and wherefores.
A Day 1 task; plucking flower petals.
The main level of the Barn, where we started each day exploring new ways to move, fall, breathe and speak and spent two evenings immersed in Life and Death media slams.
Oftentimes, though, the most meaningful connections, the moments of surprise and insight, happen in the liminal times and spaces; in casual conversations while gardening, after class, between undertakings.
Originally a working farm dating back to the 1850s, Sky Meadow has served as a spiritual/artistic retreat since the 1980s. There are few straight, level surfaces here; everything curves. Navigating uneven steps and pathways encourages mindful movement.
A mysterious figure emerges from the top level of the Barn – the hub of activity at Sky Meadow – one dark, warm night.
Preparing to transport one of several cords (piles of around 800 pieces) of firewood into the woodsheds, the Sauna and the Hearth for winter use.
Heads of garlic drying in the upper level of the Barn.
Oh, that sweet fragrance of falling petals….
With kind words, it is ended. Farewell.
The time to go is now.
- Lee Hyong-Ki [1963]
Preparing for a memento mori/carpe diem ritual at dawn, only to hear a “chuff, chuff” sound from the hill above – turning very slowly to spot two large deer who freeze, then melt into the forest.
A bit of time left, of sweet life
To cast a few more stones
Boulders, to toss into the river
Giving the biggest splash
Heavy to lift, except with help
From other believers in ripples
- Jim Davis (2017)
The bounty of the Earth; harvesting blackberries, green beans, apples, kale, plums and cabbages.
The uncannily ubiquitous Shadowcat with a new human friend.
Shadowcat, just visible in the foreground at dusk, observes a memorial ritual gathering around the Island Pond.
Aspects of a communal art project titled A Bell Cannot Be Un-Rung.
Into the woods; a hillside of mossy boulders and fallen trees. Obstacles? Stepping stones and bridges?
We pruned apple and plum trees, transporting the branches to create a new and hopefully sheep-proof fence near the Hearth. Also pruned back tree branches that were encroaching on the long loop path through the Meadow. Lots and lots of lopping.
Chop beans, carry water.
One way to harvest apples is to climb into the tree.
The DIY, old-school Sky Meadow Sauna building, which housed (for the hale and hearty few) an evening of Life and Death tale-telling by candle-light followed by a dark plunge into the Sauna Pond, staggering out with pond-weed in our hair, howling at the moon.
Island Pond, undisturbed.
Moments from our field trip to the nearby Bread and Puppet Theater, a mainstay of the East Coast counterculture since the 1960s. Above, a small section of the cavernous and astonishing Bread and Puppet Museum.
Pizza night at Positive Pie in Hardwick.
Shadowcat channels her inner panther and takes to the trees in search of new perspectives.
The centerpiece of our feast table; rainbow yarn, two wooden bowls, one terracotta bowl, brass bells, dried petals, freshly-picked apples, blackberries and plums. The main course of chicken, kale and mashed potatoes was followed by a transcendentally tasty apple and cinnamon cake.
The Sky Meadow Wind Phone, one year and at least seven calls later.
Wildlife count during the Mystery School week (not pictured); plenty of ground squirrels, a total of six deer, a hidden screeching thing that was probably a possum, a coyote pack heard howling in the distance on multiple occasions and one partially-quilled porcupine. Still no moose, nor bear … maybe next visit.
A twilit pondside memorial moment.
Great pics. Looks like an amazing week!
I laughed out loud at the mention of the “hidden screeching thing.” I agree it was almost certainly a possum, but I never did see it. Mysteries upon mysteries at the Mystery School….